Daily Dothttp://www.dailydot.com/Daily Dot Articleen-usFri, 06 Jul 2012 12:03:00 +0000The top 10 Pinterest hoaxes—debunkedhttp://www.dailydot.com/culture/top-10-pinterest-hoaxes-debunked/<p><img src='http://cdn0.dailydot.com/cache/9d/9e/9d9e3af5789ed1109ebd5d006f2975bd.jpg'></p><p>
Don&rsquo;t believe everything you see on Pinterest.</p>
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While it can be tempting to see the site as one big window-shopping experience, not everything pinned can be bought. Some pins are simply too good to be true.<br />
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<strong><big>MORE:<br />
<a href="http://www.dailydot.com/lifestyle/moonmelon-internet-hoax-fruit-pinterest/">The most popular fruit that doesn&rsquo;t actually exist</a></big></strong><br />
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Horticulturalist Steve Asbell has devoted a collaborative pinboard to pointing out the fakes, flora-related and otherwise&mdash;<a href="http://pinterest.com/rainforestgardn/fake-plants-and-other-hoaxes/">Fake Plants and Other Hoaxes</a>.</p>
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The Daily Dot picked the 10 most-surprising finds from his board:</p>
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<big><strong>1) <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/140456082099244017/">Moonmelon</a></strong></big></p>
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According to its <a href="http://pinterest.com/search/?q=moonmelon">caption on Pinterest</a>, &ldquo;This fruit grows in some parts of Japan, and is known for its vibrant blue color. What you probably don&rsquo;t know about this fruit is that it can switch flavors after you eat it. Everything sour will taste sweet, everything salty will taste bitter, and it gives water a strong orange-like taste.&rdquo;</p>
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It&rsquo;d be cool if it were true. Asbell says it&rsquo;s just a watermelon slice altered to look blue or purple.</p>
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<img alt="" src="http://cdn0.dailydot.com/uploaded/images/original/2012/7/1/melon.jpeg" /></p>
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<big><strong>2) <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/140456082099246267/">Fetus foot</a></strong></big></p>
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It looks like something out of Alien&mdash;a fully formed foot against the wall of a pregnant belly. Luckily, it&rsquo;s just Photoshop.</p>
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&ldquo;Use your common sense people,&rdquo; Asbell wrote. &ldquo;The uterus and all the layers of muscle, fat, and skin are too thick for the details of a tiny foot to show up. This is not real.&rdquo;</p>
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<img alt="" src="http://cdn0.dailydot.com/uploaded/images/original/2012/7/1/belly.jpeg" /></p>
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<big><strong>3) <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/140456082099244062/">Rainbow owl</a></strong></big></p>
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This bright bird has been going around Pinterest as an almost-extinct Chinese species. But as Asbell points out, it&rsquo;s just a colored-in photo of your average <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/140456082099244072/">barred owl</a>.</p>
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<img alt="" src="http://cdn0.dailydot.com/uploaded/images/original/2012/7/1/rainbow-owl.jpeg" /></p>
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<big><strong>4) <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/140456082099246101/">Fennec hare</a></strong></big></p>
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Pinners are claiming this adorable creature is an endangered baby fennec hare born at Korea&#39;s Pyongyang People&#39;s Zoo. But it&rsquo;s not endangered. It&rsquo;s extinct&mdash;or rather, it never existed in the first place.</p>
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&ldquo;It is just as it looks&mdash;a Photoshop kitten/bunny combo,&rdquo; Asbell said. &ldquo;An April fools day hoax, based on how cute baby Fennec foxes are!&rdquo;</p>
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<img alt="" src="http://cdn0.dailydot.com/uploaded/images/original/2012/7/1/fennec.jpeg" /></p>
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<big><strong>5) <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/140456082099246264/">Negative calorie foods</a></strong></big></p>
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So let me get this straight: You eat these foods, and you actually lose calories? Sorry dieters, that is not going to happen.</p>
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&ldquo;It&#39;s a stupid list,&rdquo; Asbell wrote.</p>
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<img alt="" src="http://cdn0.dailydot.com/uploaded/images/original/2012/7/1/negative.jpeg" /></p>
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<big><strong>6) <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/140456082099246192/">Mystical tree</a></strong></big></p>
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Check out that trunk! How long do you suppose it takes a tree to grow that big? Not very long, it turns out, when it&rsquo;s a <a href="http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/animal-kingdom/attractions/the-tree-of-life/">sculpted piece of a Disney theme park</a>.</p>
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&ldquo;It has been described as a mystical tree in India, but having been to Animal Kingdom,&rdquo; Asbell added. &ldquo;I know better...&rdquo;</p>
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<img alt="" src="http://cdn0.dailydot.com/uploaded/images/original/2012/7/1/tree.jpeg" /></p>
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<big><strong>7) <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/140456082099245912/">Rainbow lemons</a></strong></big></p>
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There&rsquo;s only so much you can achieve with food coloring. If you injected yellow lemons with food dye, they&rsquo;d develop a colored tinge, but their rinds wouldn&rsquo;t go technicolor.</p>
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<img alt="" src="http://cdn0.dailydot.com/uploaded/images/original/2012/7/3/lemons.jpeg" /></p>
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<big><strong>8) <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/140456082099245984/">Island castle</a></strong></big></p>
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This photo purports to be a picture of an Irish castle in a suspiciously tropical-looking Dublin. According to Asbell&rsquo;s board however, that&rsquo;s a German castle transposed onto Thailand&rsquo;s James Bond Island. <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/140456082099246259/">Here&rsquo;s your proof</a>.</p>
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<img alt="" src="http://cdn0.dailydot.com/uploaded/images/original/2012/7/1/castle.jpeg" /></p>
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<big><strong>9) <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/140456082099246564/">Rainbow rose</a></strong></big></p>
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Yes, it&rsquo;s possible to create (slightly less vivid) rainbow roses with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JocGICueKI">food coloring</a>. But Asbell highly, highly doubts that you&rsquo;d ever see one growing in the wild, as this one is depicted.</p>
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<img alt="" src="http://cdn0.dailydot.com/uploaded/images/original/2012/7/3/rose.jpeg" style="height: 474px; width: 630px; " /></p>
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<big><strong>10) <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/140456082099246054/">Tree person</a></strong></big></p>
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Pareidolia sometimes causes people to think our burnt toast looks like Jesus or for trees to look like people. But this tree&rsquo;s resemblance is too close for coincidence. It&rsquo;s fake.</p>
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<img alt="" src="http://cdn0.dailydot.com/uploaded/images/original/2012/7/3/person.jpeg" style="width: 500px; height: 501px; " /></p>
<dd.feed.feeds.NoneAuthor object at 0x7f40499f9510>Fri, 06 Jul 2012 12:03:00 +0000http://www.dailydot.com/culture/top-10-pinterest-hoaxes-debunked/Culture